The Lion King III: The Story of Kopa
by brookgavin
Summary: full summmary inside! the title should give you a hint about the topic :
1. Dawn of a New Prince

**A/N: OMG! It's been forever since I've posted, and this time, I'm back with a new story. It's my first Lion King one, and I don't know if others have already put this idea into a story, but I'm doing my take on it anyways. I hope you all enjoy!**

**Summary:** **We all know that Rafiki was holding up a golden-furred cub at the end of ****The Lion King****, and it sure wasn't Kiara. That cub was Kopa, Nala and Simba's first born son. Some people believe that Zira killed Kopa as revenge of Scar's death, and that was why the Outlanders were exiled, but what if Kopa hadn't been murdered? What if he went on to be the next King? This is my take one what would happen…**

**Disclaimer: I don't know anything. All characters belong to Disney, except for a few OC's I'll probably make up along the way.**

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Dawn.

A new day broke through the clouds and rays of light spread over the majestic plains of the Pride Lands.

All of the creatures woke and a wind rustled passed them, carrying grass seeds and leaf blossoms. An amazing thing had happened, and the wind was summoning the creatures to Pride Rock.

Zebras, gazelles, meerkats, elephants, giraffes, great cranes, and all the other assortments soon gathered around Pride Rock, waiting for their King and Queen.

Simba and Nala sat in their den on the risen platform, Simba's head resting over his mate's back while the cream colored lioness cuddled and licked the golden-furred cub in her paws. The cub, though a small newborn, was large for his age with young, broad shoulders, study legs, firm paws, and a small tuft of brown fur on his crown that would grow to be the majestic mane of a king.

An elderly baboon walked into the den, leaning on a cane with small melons tied to it with plains grass. The baboon broke open one of the fruits and dipped his fingers inside, pulling them away with a dark red, sticky substance. He spread the substance below the small tuft of fur and rattled his walking stick over the cub. Then, he gently took the cub from Nala's paws, and with the King and Queen following, he walked sagely out of the den.

As the baboon lifted the cub high into the air, all of the creatures bowed to their future leader. With the bending of their knees and the bowing of their necks, they pledged their allegiance to the cub; they would honor, obey, and protect him at all costs.

The cubs eyes opened while he was lifted into the rays of light, and orbs of green rained out over the sea of subjects. Those eyes laughed at the attention and he pawed playfully at the air.

Simba looked up with his eyes watering as strong, vibrant rays of sunlight burst through the clouds and rained down on his son. The king could see his father smiling down on him, and he bowed his red-mane head in honor.

The baboon turned around and took the cub back to his parents.

"Rafiki," Simba said, lifting a paw and putting it behind the elderly baboon's back, pulling the sage close.

"Don't you go getting sappy on me your Majesty," the baboon chuckled, "You have a son to tend to now." With that, the sage was gone.

'How he manages to disappear so quickly, I'll never know,' Simba thought with a smile, shaking his head softly. He walked to the tip of Pride Rock and let out a large, projecting, proud roar. All of his subjects raise their heads and let out cries of triumph before turning and going back to their daily routines.

When all of his creatures had left, the king turned and headed back into the den.

Upon his arrival in the shelter, all of the lionesses formed two lines on either side of the opening of the cave and bowed as their king walked past them. One of the lionesses scowled at Simba as he passed. The king noticed this, but he paid no mind to the dark gray lioness; she wasn't about to ruin Simba's proud feeling of having his son presented to the kingdom.

This lioness was Zira, Scar's old mate. She had children of her own: a pre-adolescent red-brown lion with red eyes and a beginning black head and chest mane called Nuka, and a sandy-gold cub only a few days old named Vitani.

Nuka had been born only a short time before Scar's death, and Vitani's father had been a rouge lion that had been in the Pride Lands for only a short time before leaving Zira to raise their cub her own.

As soon as Simba was on the risen platform with Nala and their son again, the lionesses gathered around to look at their future leader.

"What's his name?" one of the lionesses asked.

Nala nuzzled the young cub in her paws and said, "Kopa."

After a while, a few of the lionesses left for a secret hunt. They were going to bring back a feast in celebration of the newborn cub. A few of the lionesses remained, including Zira.

"What a darling cub," the gray-brown lioness said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Nala kept her eyes on her son, but Simba wouldn't stand for Zira's mockery.

"He is your future leader," the king snarled, "You will respect and honor him."

"I have no time to respect and honor, as you say," Zira shot, "I have my own children to tend to if you've forgotten." With that, she turned and headed out of the den to the back of Pride Rock where Scar's old followers slept.

Though they were a pride united, there was still the slight friction of conflict between Scar's old followers and Simba's. Most of Scar's old followers were more partial to living in the Pride Lands and following Simba's rule, some were more loyal to Zira, and some were in between.

Later that night in the back den of Pride Rock, Zira lay in the center of the den, thinking about how Simba and Nala's new cub would interfere with her wanting to take over Pride Rock.

'That little runt HAS to go…' she thought, 'But how?'

An idea struck her and she settled down, drifting to sleep with an evil grin on her face…

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**A/N: ok, so that's the first chapter! please review:-D **


	2. Saving a Rogue

**A/N: ok, so here's the second chapter. I'm dedicating this one to MinisterSweetGoodKid because she was my first reviewer. MSGK, you're story ****Of Legacies and Cycles ****is really good. You really put a lot of emotion into Shade/Ewali's character. : ) **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you've heard of in this story**

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The next morning, far before any creature in the Pride Lands would rub the sleep from their eyes, Zira awoke and crept silently out of the back cave and wandered until she found a loose pile of rubble and rocks a few feet from the mouth of her den. She pawed at the mix until it fell away, revealing an entrance slope that would lead up to the main den.

Soundlessly, Zira crawled up the slope and walked right behind the risen platform.

She flattened herself against the floor when she noticed that Nala was facing her, Kopa in the queen's paws. Nala pawed at the air a moment, then turned with her back to her cub.

Zira smiled evilly and crept up to the platform. She gently took Kopa by the scruff and crept out of the den as silently as she came.

Zira traveled very far. Kopa hadn't woken at all.

It was still an hour or so before the sunrise when Zira came upon the desolate, dry area known as the Outlands.

'I'll leave the little runt here,' she thought, 'He won't stand a chance against these surroundings.'

With that, she set the sleeping cub down on the dirt ground and turned away. But suddenly, she felt a jolt in her stomach.

Zira was pregnant with her third cub, a child to be born her own. Could she really leave Kopa, a newborn cub, to fend for his own in such a surrounding?

No.

Though she felt for the hatred of Simba's family and followers for Scar's death, she thought about if the King would take her soon-to-be cub to these same lands as punishment for killing his heir.

Then, for the sake of her own child, she picked the prince up by the scruff and ran as fast as she could back to Pride Rock.

Zira crawled up the slope in the back of the great rock, set the cub down next to Nala's back, and left.

After settling down in her spot in the back cave, Zira fell into a restless sleep, having nightmares of Simba finding the dead body of his newborn son, killing Zira's new cub, and exiling Scar's followers to the Outlands, to remain in the desolated area forever.

Months passed and still no one knew that Zira had taken Kopa to the Outlands.

The young cub had grown stronger. His build was less of a newborn and more sturdy. His fur was less fine, but still soft. His green eyes were always sparkling with merriment and mischief as he scampered about Pride Rock.

Simba and Nala would watch proudly as their young son would jump from scattered rocks near the base of Pride Rock, and look back at them, asking excitedly, "Did ya see that Mom? Did you see that Dad?" They'd laugh and smile at him, encouraging the young cub to show them more of his "skills."

There weren't many cubs in Simba's pride, except for Kopa and Vitani, Zira's daughter.

Though Simba disapproved of it, Kopa and Vitani became friends. Vitani had a rough play manner and a bit of a snappy attitude that she'd most likely picked up from her mother. Slowly but surely, Kopa would soften Vitani's rough edges.

"Hey Vitani!" Kopa shouted, jumping to pounce on his best friend.

The sandy cub jumped out of the way in the knick of time, then pounced the Prince herself, her blue eyes sparkling with success.

"Hey Kopa."

"You wanna play?" Kopa asked.

"Sure," Vitani answered, crouching down. Kopa took her suit and when the sandy cub least expected it, the Prince jumped at her, batting her nose with his paw, shouting, "YOU'RE IT!"

They ran past the resting lionesses, past the watering whole, and through great fields of lush green grass until Kopa came to a sudden halt. Vitani ran right into him.

"Hey, what was that for?" the young lioness asked irritably.

"Look… over there… it looks like… a cub," Kopa murmured.

Before Vitani could respond, Kopa said, "C'mon, let's go help him."

"What makes you think it's a boy?" Vitani asked irritably as they started off.

The two ran towards the spot Kopa and been looking at and indeed, they found a cub, but it was unconscious on the ground. It was a girl, and Vitani puffed her chest out, proud that she was right.

The cub's fur was a very light cream color. She had a pure white underbelly and a pink nose. The strange thing about this cub was that she had dark, dark brown dot patterns on her body. There were four dots under her left eye, five going down her left front leg, seven on her right side, and six going down her right hind leg.

"She's out cold," Kopa said.

"What do we do?" Vitani asked, scratching behind her ear.

"We should take her to Pride Rock and see what my parents think about her," Kopa said decisively.

"We're just cubs," Vitani pointed out, "We can't lift her. She's the same size as us."

"Then we can each hold half her body weight," Kopa said, nudging his head under the cub's chest.

"Oh sure, just leave her rear to me," Vitani muttered irritably before nudging her head under the cub's hind legs.

Halfway back to Pride Rock, Vitani asked, "What if she had parents? What if they're looking for her? Wondering where their little girl is?"

"Parents wouldn't just leave their child unconscious near the Outlands," Kopa said, "Unless they wanted to leave the cub to fend for her own."

Vitani sighed. Nobody knew but her… she'd been awake near a year ago when her mother had crept out of the back den and taken Kopa. Vitani had followed her mother in the tall grasses as silently as Zira herself and watched when a look of grief had passed over her mother's face. Vitani had only seen that look on her mother's face once before: when Scar had died.

Kopa and Vitani set the rogue cub down gently at the base of Pride Rock in the shade.

"You stay here and watch her while I go up to the den and get Mom and Dad," Kopa said before bounding away.

Vitani sighed and sat back on her haunches, studying the cub. The sandy cub scratched behind her ear for a moment, then settled down on the ground on her stomach.

"We just found her near the borders," Kopa said, coming down the slope with Simba and Nala in pursuit.

Nala gasped at the sight of the unconscious cub next to Vitani.

"Simba, she's no bigger than Kopa," the queen whispered to her mate.

"You're sure she was alone; no lionesses or others around?" Simba asked his son.

"I'm positive Dad," Kopa replied, "She was completely alone." Vitani nodded in agreement, backing her friend up.

"She doesn't look like one of ours," Simba murmured, then turned to his son, "You found her near the borders of the Outlands?"

Kopa nodded.

"I should punish you two for running so far from the rock, but your mistake may save this cub's life," Simba said, leaning down and picking the cub up by the scruff.

"Where're you taking her?" Vitani asked.

"To the main den," Simba answered, "I'll have Zazu fly for Rafiki so he can see if she's ok."

Kopa and Vitani started to follow Simba, but Nala said, "You two go play, but not too far from the rock."

The two cubs were hesitant for a moment, but then scampered off. They knew that if they were sent away, what was going to happen was nothing the elders wanted them to worry about.

"Don't look so worried Kopa," Vitani tried to reassure, "She'll be fine."

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**A/N: ok, so that was chapter two. Review please!! XD **


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